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ABSTRACT Introduction Methods Results Conclusion Lonely people often crave social connection, but their social interactions fall short of fulfilling their needs. Although loneliness has been associated with negative views of the world, it is not clear whether these world beliefs contribute to the unfulfilling social interaction patterns that sustain loneliness. This research examined the role of world beliefs in explaining the effects of loneliness on daily frequency and quality of interaction, and the implications for sustained loneliness over time.Both members of romantic couples (N = 472) completed measures of loneliness, world beliefs, and daily social interactions with weak and strong ties over 2 weeks (daily N = 6411) and completed a follow‐up assessment of loneliness a year later.Relative to those who felt connected, lonely people believed the world was worse, dangerous, dull, and did not need them. Loneliness also indirectly predicted reduced quality and quantity of social interaction via negative, dull, and not needed world beliefs. In turn, the quality of interactions with strong ties predicted maintained loneliness a year later. However, dangerous world beliefs predicted better interactions with close relationship partners.Findings suggest that the negative subjective worlds inhabited by lonely people may partially explain why lonely people have unfulfilling social interactions that tend to sustain their loneliness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely accepted that the growth of "non-religious" identification and "non-belief" in God(s) in many societies is linked to changing religious socialization. However, existing research mapping these intergenerational changes has largely focused on religious decline or the loss of belief—"push" factors—rather than exploring the distinctive non-religious forms of life into which children are growing up, which may operate as "pull" factors. Drawing on a qualitative study conducted with children, their parents, and teachers in England, we demonstrate how children come to inhabit a "humanist condition" through socialization processes in which "pull" factors toward humanism play a significant role and even shape the nature of "push" factors. The significance of new worldviews also helps explain how participants combine humanism with diverse religious and non-religious beliefs and practices. We argue that socialization processes at home and at school are interwoven and can be hard to distinguish in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigated whether ideological attitudes (beliefs about religion, social justice) are central to the self-concept. Participants rated ideological attitudes as more self-defining than relevant attitudes (about family, hometown), even though were liked equally (Study 1). Ideological attitudes were as self-defining as attitudes that were personally meaningful, even though the latter were liked more and more psychologically valuable (Study 2). In Study 3, participants reported that if they changed their ideological attitudes or their moral traits (honesty, generosity), they would see themselves as a different person more than if they changed their attitudes about relevant attitudes and their perceptual abilities (hearing, pain tolerance). These studies underscore the important role of ideological attitudes to the self-concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores Quebec's recent transition from the "Ethics and Religious Culture" (ERC) program to the "Culture and Citizenship in Quebec" (CCQ) program, emphasizing the role of religious literacy in secular societies. We investigate the rationale behind the shift, and examine the ERC's focus on fostering understanding of diverse religious and ethical perspectives as well as CCQ's broader mandate to integrate cultural and civic education and its aim at the development of a shared and common public Quebecois culture. The case study highlights the pedagogical and societal implications of this change, discussing how the CCQ program aims to enhance civic engagement, cultural awareness, and social cohesion. Furthermore, the article identifies opportunities for educators to address pressing global challenges, such as polarization, reconciliation, and the climate crisis, within the new curriculum framework. By promoting critical thinking, inclusivity, and active citizenship, fostering religious literacy in such programs presents a unique opportunity for educators and youth to contribute to a more resilient and harmonious society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pedagogue's fallacy occurs when epistemological principles are applied by educators that in fact do not tell of, or explain, or help understand, the subject at hand. It is identified and introduced in this article to raise an important issue in the construction of pedagogical models of religious education: knowledge is reduced and/or distorted to systematise it for pedagogical purposes. Cases of this fallacy have long been identified in the pages of this journal, albeit implicitly, such as in critiques of the 'world religions' approach and debates over other pedagogical models. The purpose of this article is to explore and explicate pedagogue's fallacy in order to distinguish useful ways to structure and sequence knowledge on the one hand, from erroneous reduction, distortion, or even fabrication on the other. As religious education is diversifying in terms of the disciplines, religious traditions and standpoints with which it engages, understanding and remedying pedagogue's fallacy has never been more significant. This is because avoiding or mitigating pedagogue's fallacy is pertinent to achieving and maintaining epistemic justice. I offer the strategy of pedagogue's parsimony to do this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research conducted worldwide has pinpointed the importance of the cultivation of worldviews in citizenship education, little is known of how worldviews are constructed in the civics curriculum. In this study, we adopted a comparative historical approach to examine how China's civics curriculum has interpreted the meaning of life for young citizens during the transformation of the country from an empire into a nation-state. The data were drawn from 210 school textbooks published between 1902 and 2020. Four historical periods were delineated: the late Qing and Republican era, the Maoist era, the Deng Xiaoping era, and the current Xi Jinping administration. The findings demonstrated the trends and changes that took place while the ideal of citizenship and citizenship education took root, driving the modernisation of Chinese society. Through this study, we contribute to the theoretical discussions on enriching civics curriculum development from a humanist perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Pacific peoples experience inequity in accessing hearing health care and are disproportionately exposed to the underlying determinants impacting ear and hearing health in Aotearoa New Zealand. Understanding community members’ worldviews, including perspectives, beliefs and values, is essential in developing appropriate and responsive hearing healthcare services to meet the needs of Pacific peoples. Aim. The purpose of this paper is to understand the worldviews, knowledge and beliefs held by Pacific peoples regarding hearing health in Aotearoa New Zealand. Methods. A mixed-methods approach was used. Twelve semistructured face-to-face interviews were conducted with Pacific community members. Twentyfive participants completed an online questionnaire. A simultaneous, integrated mixed-methods approach was used to analyse the qualitative and quantitative data. Results. Five main themes were established, which were: The Meaning of Hearing; Causes of hearing loss; Consequences of hearing loss and Disability; and Improving health care for ear disease and hearing loss. Discussion. Pacific peoples value hearing health to communicate and connect with their families and communities. Participants highlighted the importance of hearing health across the life course. Although the study findings revealed there is potentially less stigma and shame around hearing loss in New Zealand, denial and fatalistic attitudes towards hearing loss may delay some people from seeking healthcare services. Participants expressed key ways in which the health system can be more responsive to the hearing health needs of Pacific peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beliefs about the general character of the world – called primals – have received much attention in recent years. Primals (e.g. believing that the world is safe) are associated with psychological and social outcomes, such as personality traits, character strengths and life satisfaction. We performed the first study of genetic and environmental influences on primals, and explored phenotypic associations between primals and the big five personality traits, in a large (~9000) population-wide Swedish twin sample. Correlations between primals and personality traits were low to moderate. Broad-sense heritability estimates of primals ranged between 21% and 49%, suggesting that genetic factors contribute significantly to people’s beliefs about the general character of the world. In contrast, we found little support for shared environmental effects (e.g. rearing environment). Conclusively, we demonstrate that primals and personality are related, yet distinct, constructs and that individual differences in primals depend on both genetic and non-shared environmental factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research examined implications of day-to-day variability in beliefs about the world’s general goodness for daily relationship satisfaction and the mediating role of positive relationship illusions. In a dyadic daily diary study of romantic couples, participants were more satisfied with their relationships on days when they or their partner had more positive beliefs about the world. These effects were mediated by positive images of the partner. Participants had more positive images of their partner on days when they or their partner saw the world as a better place, which predicted their own and their partner’s greater satisfaction. Results suggest that, by shaping how people perceive their partners, positive world beliefs may promote satisfying relationships for both couple members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding climate change concern among adolescents is considered a useful strategy for building public engagement with climate change. However, the psychological and sociodemographic antecedents of climate change concern have been studied mainly with Western adults. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to gain insights into the factors predicting climate change concern among adolescents in Cambodia to be used to support the planning of climate related education. The results of a survey with students in grades 7–9 (N = 389) show that ecological worldview—or belief in an ecocrisis—is the strongest predictor of climate change concern among Cambodian adolescents. Altruistic environmental concern is associated with the strength of the ecological worldview. Building understanding of the human impact on climate and reflection on altruistic motives for environmental action may be good focal points for climate change education in Cambodia, however more research is needed to better understand climate change concern and its individual and cultural predictors in Cambodia and elsewhere outside the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent environmental events in land, coastal and ocean domains in Aotearoa have raised serious questions about risks and uncertainties connected with natural resource decision‐making at all levels and in all places. Evidence from consenting processes associated with proposed investments in seabed mining of Chatham Rock Phosphate and sub‐division development at Okura, Auckland City, illustrate the presence and nature of three key but often invisible influences – personal positionalities, discipline assumptions and worldviews – affecting decision processes. Readers are invited to go on a 'risk journey', of discovery, to help develop their capabilities to engage in investment decision‐making processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In November 2022, the global human population reached 8 billion and is projected to reach 10 billion by 2060. Theories, models, and evidence indicate that global population growth (GPG) increases the likelihood of many adverse outcomes, such as biodiversity loss, climate change, mass migrations, wars, and resource shortages. A small body of research indicates that many individuals are concerned about the effects of GPG, and these concerns are strongly related to the willingness to engage in mitigative and preventative actions. However, scientific understanding of the factors that influence GPG risk perceptions remains limited. To help address this research gap, we conducted a study of the perceived risk of GPG among UK and US residents (N = 1029) shortly after the "8 billion milestone." Our results confirmed that GPG is perceived as a moderate‐to‐high risk and these perceptions have a strong positive relationship with the willingness to engage in and support risk management actions. Our participants believed that the worst effects of GPG were yet to come but would largely be geographically and socially remote. Despite their willingness to engage in risk management actions, our participants reported low self‐efficacy and that governments (cf. individuals and communities) have the greatest capacity to influence GPG. Risk perceptions were strongly predicted by worldviews and were higher among our UK (cf. US) participants. We also found that the perceived benefits of GPG were low and found no evidence to suggest that risk perceptions were affected by exposure to media coverage of the 8 billion milestone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Method Results Conclusion Does experiencing adversity engender kindness, and if so, for whom? Two studies tested the hypothesis that adversity predicts increased pro‐social outcomes, and that this relationship is strongest for individuals who view others as good and trustworthy, or benevolent.In Study 1, a cross‐sectional survey design was utilized, and in Study 2 a longitudinal survey was conducted.In Study 1 (N = 359), the number of lifetime adverse life events was associated with increased volunteering, empathic concern, and self‐reported altruism. The association of adversity and altruism was stronger for those with greater benevolence beliefs. In Study 2 (N = 1157), benevolence beliefs were assessed, and in subsequent years, adverse life events were reported. The number of past‐year adverse life events predicted more volunteering and charitable involvement, but only among people with high benevolence beliefs.Exposure to adversity may be associated with increased pro‐social behavior among those with higher benevolence beliefs. In part, this could be due to benevolence beliefs increasing the expectation that one's efforts will be appreciated and reciprocated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how the mainstream media and many Liberal and Conservative federal politicians marshalled narratives of Indigenous oil and gas workers during large-scale mobilizations against the Coastal GasLink pipeline in the winter of 2020. The author identifies a dominant vision of Canada as a technologically capable nation of people who work hard to derive wealth from the land, and the author shows how narratives about Indigenous oil and gas workers became important parts of this vision. The author interprets these findings through the writings of Indigenous resurgence scholars as well as through work in science and technology studies that documents and theorizes the co-constitution of dominant technoscience, colonial power, and the ethical stances towards work and land that both require. Through this interpretive lens, the author invokes the historical example of the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railroad to highlight continuities between the discourse from 2020 and older discursive, institutional, and material assertions of colonial power. In 2020, the mainstream media and many politicians' narratives about Indigenous oil and gas workers helped naturalize the idea that working hard to extract value from land is a universally shared stage in human development through which all peoples must pass. This helped legitimize mechanisms of assimilation by presenting them as meaningful steps in the process of reconciliation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expanding upon Duckitt's dual‐process motivational model of ideology and prejudice (DPM; Duckitt, 2001), this research explores the psychological underpinnings of the approval of hostile design (AoHD) measures. Hostile design measures are interventions designed to deter undesirable behaviours and specific social groups in urban areas. Across three correlational studies (N = 798) conducted in Germany and the US, we investigated the relationship between AoHD, Right‐Wing Authoritarianism (RWA), Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), as well as dangerous and competitive worldviews. AoHD was positively associated with RWA and SDO, as well as with dangerous and competitive worldviews. In line with the DPM, the relationship between a competitive worldview and AoHD is mediated by SDO in Studies 2 and 3. In addition, the relationship between a dangerous worldview and AoHD is mediated by RWA in Study 2 but not in Study 3. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Dispositional mindfulness has been associated with lower posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other negative health symptoms in the police population. Of the various mindfulness facets (i.e., non-judging, observing, describing, acting with awareness), non-judging has been demonstrated to be the strongest predictor of lower PTSD symptoms in police academy cadets. The mechanisms by which non-judging may lead to enhanced health outcomes in police officers are poorly understood and require further investigation. Method: The purpose of the current study was to test a model involving a pathway from pre-trauma mindful non-judging to PTSD symptoms and ultimately posttraumatic growth (PTG) that is mediated by worldviews in a sample of police academy cadets (n = 379). Data were collected via a survey packet distributed at a police academy located in a Southern state of the United States. We examined the relationships among demographic factors, adverse child events, negative life events, mindful non-judgment, world assumptions, PTSD, and PTG using path analysis. Results: The results indicated that positive worldviews served as a mediator between dispositional mindful non-judging and lower PTSD symptoms, which ultimately led to lower PTG. Conclusions: These findings have important implications for the selection and training of police academy cadets with the goal of increasing resilience to occupational trauma exposure. Additionally, these results have clinical implications regarding the treatment of officers experiencing symptoms of PTSD. Preregistration: This study is not preregistered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the deep-rooted ontological conflicts over water and how these conflicts are shaped by different water worldviews, by taking the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and Gibe III hydroelectric power projects as a case. Adopting a political ontology and worldview as an integrative analytical framework, the study investigates the competing water ontologies and the consequent ontological conflict, contributing to the understanding of how differing worldviews influence water resources management and development. The research employed a qualitative research approach in which data were gathered from 38 key informants, focus group discussion, as well as relevant literature and documentary sources. The central argument is that water conflict is not only caused by physical scarcity or weak governance systems but also by ontological conflicts between different competing water worlds striving to sustain their ontological security constructed at the center of the River or hydraulic infrastructure. The findings also reveal that the construction of hydropower projects has sparked contestation between traditional water ontology and modern water ontology, leading to the marginalization of the periphery and the reinvention of state coercive legitimacy. The study implies that understanding the difference in worldviews is crucial in addressing the question of why water resources and their developments have become so contentious and how contested worldviews have contributed to the simultaneous processes of inclusion and exclusion, naturalization and marginalization, the image of self, and other discourses.

This article traces persistent and important counter-narratives within Western and Christian traditions, which correlate more closely with many indigenous worldviews from across the globe than with dominant narratives from across these traditions. It posits that a paradigmatic transformation is required toward an integral and integrative eco-cosmology, one that embraces cosmic interconnection and complexity. This may emerge from green shoots emanating from a diverse range of traditions, including, importantly, from within the dominant Western tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the religion and environment field by analyzing the environmental impact of two divergent ethical responses within Nigerian Christianity. Based on different interpretations of a specific aspect of African spiritual cosmologies, African Indigenous churches (AIC s) and African independent Pentecostals (AIP s) in Nigeria have formulated conflicting spiritualities that shape their ecotheologies. Based on this same cosmology, the ecotheology of the AIC s shows continuity with the indigenous notion of sacred space which also encourages the preservation of the ecosystem especially trees and wet forests. The AIP s, on the other hand, interpret the same notion differently by segregating the public space into holy and evil ecologies. To rid these habitats of perceived evil spirits in the ecosystem, some AIP s have constructed a theology of evangelism and spiritual warfare to expel these spirits by destroying their habitats and converting such habitats into holy use such as building churches and prayer camps. Based on data obtained through observation and literature, the proliferation of prayer camps along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is analysed as a product of these notions of holy and evil ecologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correction has been made to the article e000043, vol. 5, 2024, https://doi.org/10.55329/vfer7646 (published on 5 March 2024, updated on 18 March 2024).

The livestock sector is under increasing pressure to respond to numerous sustainability and health challenges related to the production and consumption of livestock products. However, political and market barriers and conflicting worldviews and values across the environmental, socio-economic and political domains have led to considerable sector inertia, and government inaction. The processes that lead to the formulation of perspectives in this space, and that shape action (or inaction), are currently under-researched. This paper presents results of a mixed methods exploration of the influence of environmental worldviews, values, and demographic factors on perspectives towards the future of the livestock sector. The approach combines survey and interview data derived from a sample of livestock representatives (N = 307). Respondents with higher pro-environmental, ecocentric and relational worldviews and values favour more behaviour-oriented solutions. Those with lower pro-environmental and higher techno-centric worldviews and values favour technological solutions to improve the efficiency of production and to enable continued patterns of meat consumption. Demographic variation and qualitative data emphasise the need to recognise cultural and geographic nuance in narratives. This study improves our understanding of the processes that lead to the formulation of perspectives, enabling the development of more holistic solutions that acknowledge all voices in an increasingly polarised debate. Adopting more pluralistic, relational methodologies will therefore be paramount in developing solutions for sustainable livestock futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The purpose of this paper is to provide a future research agenda to study how worldviews impact financial attitudes and behaviors. In addition, this paper will help operationalize many of the constructs associated with an individual's values and personal worldview. As a result of this research agenda, researchers and financial planners will move towards developing personal value and worldview identification tools that will help individuals more intrinsically adopt savings goals that help meet their life goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to examine patterns in Swedish children's existential questions and worldviews in 2020 in relation to patterns from 1970 and 1987, but also to point towards a further discussion of importance, about possible RE responses to these findings. The material, children's texts, comes both from studies conducted by Sven Hartman and colleagues in the 1970s and 1980s, and from new empirical studies. The children's responses are collected according to the same method, sentence completion tasks, in both cases. Theoretically, the article is anchored in both the tradition of Swedish worldview studies and the new international interest in these perspectives for religious education. Existential questions and worldviews are seen as interdependent in human beings' life interpretations, which are continuously developing and are both sociocultural and existential in nature. The empirical findings show a strong and increasing focus on relationships, but also a recurrent focus on achievements, which relates to school as context and community. In relation to these findings, the article stresses the importance of RE responses, and discusses concretely what such responses might advantageously include. Among other things, the importance is stressed of an RE that offers the student greater awareness of her life interpretations, and encourages her to develop broader repertoires of frameworks, through which the student might have a better chance to be the author of her own life, which is inevitably a collectively shared life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current post-carbon transition trajectories are primarily focused on external solutions, while citizens' inner lives and roles in collective transformation and system change processes are largely overlooked. To address this gap, this study aims to explore the potential role of citizens as active agents of change. Specifically, it examines how citizens perceive and address climate change, the factors that can empower and motivate them to act, and how they imagine future transformation pathways and their own role within them. Based on a combined SenseMaker and Grounded Theory methodology, we explore citizens' perspectives and discuss their implications for improving current approaches and discourses, such as lifestyle environmentalism and post-growth. Our findings provide important insights into the interplay between people's motivation, sense of agency, and social paradigms, with direct implications for policy and practice. They show that the materialistic growth paradigm under which most people act does not support motivation and engagement in sustainability transformations. Secondly, although intrinsic motivation, along with values such as care and community, increase engagement and transformation, they are seldom reflected in current policy approaches and discourses. Thirdly, a sense of agency is key for lasting individual and collective engagement. Put together, the results indicate that empowering individual and collective agency requires challenging current societal and systemic values that lie at the root of today's crises. Supporting conditions that allow the emergence of new social paradigms through targeted actions at individual, collective, and system levels is thus crucial to tackling climate change and meeting policy targets [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: This paper raises the question of how religious education may address the variety of worldviews. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The concept of worldview seems to be able to reconcile religious education with a society that is both secular and religiously plural. Such education, however, is defined by its focus on religion. Even when religion is seen as sub-category of worldview, religious education still does not include secular worldviews. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: It therefore first clarifies the concept of worldview by relating it to the German term of "Weltanschauung". Worldviews represent a comprehensive perspective on the world that originates from an individual's aesthetic and intuitive understanding of daily life and gives meaning to this life. Then, it delineates the basic didactic characteristics of three models of religious education, namely the denominational, the pluralistinformative, and the interpretative-dialogical models. Based on these models, the paper finally discusses the challenges and obstacles of religious education which attempts to address the plurality of worldviews. RESEARCH RESULTS: The analysis shows that none of the models is able to comprehensively grasp this plurality. The advantages and disadvantages of each of the three models, however, indicate that the main tasks of worldviewconscious religious education are to clarify the constitutive rationality of worldviews and to find a balanced representation of both organized and personal worldviews via classroom interaction. CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The realization of these tasks is basically the job of the teacher and does not at all depend on the model of religious education itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research shows that today’s societal crises are rooted in a lack of connection to ourselves, others and nature. At the same time, there is an increasing body of knowledge showing that humans possess innate capacities for connection that can be strengthened through certain methods, and throughout our lifetimes. Such methods have, so far, however, been rarely applied, or adapted to the context of sustainability leadership and education. Critical qualitative analyses and empirical evidence that would help to understand if, and how, related interventions can support sustainability outcomes across scales are vastly lacking. The present study addresses this gap. It examines global leadership programs that aim to nourish inner development and accelerate work towards the Sustainable Development Goals. More specifically, it systematises the qualitative impacts and learnings from a Climate Leadership Program for policy and decision-makers (e.g. the European Commission) that provided the basis for co-developing similar programs for the United Nations Development Program, the Inner Development Goals Initiative, and the Inner Green Deal. The findings demonstrate how sustainability leadership and education can become a vehicle for transformation, if certain principles are in place. They highlight the importance of addressing the ontological, epistemological and praxis dimensions of inner-outer transformation to empower participants to challenge unsustainable social paradigms and enable them to systematically mainstream the consideration of inner potential and capacities into existing cultures, mechanisms and structures. Our findings advance knowledge on the complex intersection between sustainability, inner development and transformation, and set a precedent that other training institutions could follow or learn from. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many authors argue that we live in a post-secular world where religion persists, and where, in public affairs, religious views should have an equal voice with secularity. This article examines participation in international development through that post-secular lens: To what extent do the differing worldviews of the partners affect their relationships when designing and implementing development projects? Fieldwork for the research was conducted mainly through interviews with global donor and practitioner organisations working from New Zealand and with recipients on one project in Bangladesh. We used a typology of three different parties: recipients; secular donor and practitioner organisations; and faith-based donor and practitioner organisations (FBOs). In that triangle of relationships we found the three parties’ beliefs are intensely important to them. But we also found participation tends to be transactional in that the topic of religion is generally avoided, leading to unexplored assumptions and adverse consequences to development of trust between the parties. However, we observed that FBOs and recipients can, through religion, and regardless of what that religion is, have a natural rapport. This is important as less-developed countries are generally profoundly religious. Further, in an extension to some concepts of post-secularity, our research indicated there is value in not just listening but also in debating views in-depth as a pathway to creating common ground. This may be challenging for secular organisations, but facilitators who are accepted by the three parties as understanding and respecting their views could help achieve productive relationships.

When we survey the current theoretical landscape, we find two distinct approaches to the analysis of worldviews. The systemic approach centers on responses to fundamental worldview questions (aka “big questions”); the cognitive‐behavioral approach focuses on the processes that give rise to behaviors that express worldviews. If we think of worldviews as subjective representations of the environment, that is, subjective “worlds,” we can think of the first approach as a means of eliciting, documenting, and comparing “worlds‐made” and the second as a framework for understanding the nonconscious processes of “world‐making.” It is not clear, however, how the two approaches are related. If human answers to the fundamental worldview questions are simply reflective additions to underlying cognitive processes, we would anticipate that worldview conflicts could be resolved relatively easily. If the implicit answers are embedded in nonconscious processes that are presupposed by various ways of life, we would expect that the process of resolving conflicts would be much more complex. An evolutionary approach, which views world‐making as an evolved capacity, not only suggests that the latter is the case, but also offers a way to integrate the two approaches. If, as an evolutionary approach would suggest, all mobile organisms must implicitly answer basic, species‐appropriate versions of the big questions in order to survive, then we can integrate the two approaches by defining worldviews in terms of simplified big questions that allow for both proximate and ultimate answers. This allows us to embed the systemic framework in an agent‐based cognitive‐behavioral process grounded in the everyday life and behavior of humans and other animals. The article is divided into three parts. The first demonstrates how we can use simplified versions of the big questions to integrate the systemic and cognitive‐behavioral approaches, ground the big questions in ways of life, and shift between systemic and agent‐based perspectives. The second offers more refined analytic concepts—modes, scale, and scope—for characterizing this dynamic, multilevel approach to worldviews. The third offers several comparisons to illustrate the benefits of this more‐nuanced approach in the context of conflict resolution.

This article explores Quebec’s recent transition from the “Ethics and Religious Culture” (ERC) program to the “Culture and Citizenship in Quebec” (CCQ) program, emphasizing the role of religious literacy in secular societies. We investigate the rationale behind the shift, and examine the ERC’s focus on fostering understanding of diverse religious and ethical perspectives as well as CCQ’s broader mandate to integrate cultural and civic education and its aim at the development of a shared and common public Quebecois culture. The case study highlights the pedagogical and societal implications of this change, discussing how the CCQ program aims to enhance civic engagement, cultural awareness, and social cohesion. Furthermore, the article identifies opportunities for educators to address pressing global challenges, such as polarization, reconciliation, and the climate crisis, within the new curriculum framework. By promoting critical thinking, inclusivity, and active citizenship, fostering religious literacy in such programs presents a unique opportunity for educators and youth to contribute to a more resilient and harmonious society.

Although living in diverse communities can affect socio-political views, studies rarely--if ever--assess mediators of the relationship between macro-level diversity and individual-level intergroup attitudes. According to the Dual Process Model of Ideology and Prejudice, community-level diversity should correlate negatively with right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) by reducing dangerous and competitive worldviews, respectively. Study 1 examined these hypotheses using a nationwide random sample of New Zealand Europeans (N = 11,007) nested in 254 communities. As hypothesised, community-level diversity had specific negative indirect effects on between-level variability in RWA and SDO via reductions in dangerous and competitive worldviews, respectively. Study 2 pursued a longitudinal follow-up (N = 9,355) and showed that dangerous and competitive worldviews predicted increases in RWA and SDO (respectively) a year later. Collectively, these results demonstrate that living in diverse communities can improve intergroup attitudes by reducing perceptions that the world is a dangerous and competitive place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People hold different perspectives about how they think the world is changing or should change. We examined five of these "worldviews" about change: Progress, Golden Age, Endless Cycle, Maintenance, and Balance. In Studies 1–4 (total N = 2733) we established reliable measures of each change worldview, and showed how these help explain when people will support or oppose social change in contexts spanning sustainability, technological innovations, and political elections. In mapping out these relationships we identify how the importance of different change worldviews varies across contexts, with Balance most critical for understanding support for sustainability, Progress/Golden Age important for understanding responses to innovations, and Golden Age uniquely important for preferring Trump/Republicans in the 2016 US election. These relationships were independent of prominent individual differences (e.g., values, political orientation for elections) or context‐specific factors (e.g., self‐reported innovativeness for responses to innovations). Study 5 (N = 2140) examined generalizability in 10 countries/regions spanning five continents, establishing that these worldviews exhibited metric invariance, but with country/region differences in how change worldviews were related to support for sustainability. These findings show that change worldviews can act as a general "lens" people use to help determine whether to support or oppose social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that all scientific research is framed by one of two organizing principles that underpin and shape almost every aspect of scientific research as well as nonscientific inquiry. The most commonly employed principle within mainstream science is content determines content. This is a closed, circular principle that is usually unstated within hypotheses but plays a major role in developing methodologies and arriving at conclusions. The second more open principle is context determines content. This principle represents the implied background embedded within hypotheses. The difference between these two principles revolves around the issue of context, with the first principle closing off contexts by ignoring, erasing, or devaluing them, while the second more holistic principle explicitly takes them into account. Each of these research principles has a focus on the explicit detailed nature of 'content' while differing in relation to the source and cause of such content. We argue that the more open and holistic principle of context determines that content is superior in producing reliable evidence, results and conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paradoxes of inclusivity occur when attempts at inclusivity clash with the exclusive claims of some of the positions they seek to accommodate. In this article I identify and consider how such a paradox manifests in multi-faith religious education pedagogies—what I call the 'paradox of interreligious inclusivity' or 'PIRI', for short. After presenting some relevant and illuminating examples, I consider PIRI in regard to proposals in England for 'religion and worldviews education'. By defining the conceptual problem at the root of challenges posed by such an innovation and pedagogical models more generally, I suggest greater recognition of the deep implications of PIRI are essential in any context when educators seek to include those of all religions and those of none in programmes of religious education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will examine four potential areas of pressure to RE in England in the 2020s: Academisation—and the structural issues arising from ever greater numbers of schools being outside local authority control; the alleged secularisation of the curriculum through the Worldviews Paradigm; the financial situation of Standard Advisory Councils on Religious Education in England; and the teacher recruitment crisis. Taking a historical turn, it will then consider whether these are uniquely challenging to the subject, or whether the RE community might gain solace from a realisation that these challenges have been overcome at other points in history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldviews about human's relationship with the natural world play an important role in psychological health. However, very little is currently known regarding the way worldviews about nature are linked with psychological health during a severe natural disaster and how this link may differ according to cultural context. In this study, we measured individual differences in worldviews about nature and psychological health during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic within two different cultural contexts (Japan and United States). We found that across Japanese and American cultural contexts, holding a harmony-with-nature worldview was positively associated with improved psychological health during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also found that culture moderated the link between mastery-over-nature worldviews and negative affect. Americans showed a stronger link between mastery-over-nature worldviews and negative affect than Japanese. These findings support the biophilia hypothesis and contribute to theories differentiating Japanese and American cultural contexts based on naïve dialecticism and susceptibility to cognitive dissonance.